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EDITORIAL – Some concerned seniors have formed a group called Manitoba Seniors for Sustainability, and are kicking off their initiative by forwarding their personal $200 and other donations to environmental non-profits that saw their funding suspended by the province.

A new feed supplement has been developed that shrinks the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that cows emit when they belch. Mootral, the Switzerland-based company making the new supplements, will soon be issued the world’s first carbon credits for methane reduction in cows.

Manitoba’s emissions increased by 8.3 % from 2005 to 2018. This marks the third-most significant growth rate among provinces. Alberta’s emissions grew by 14% and Saskatchewan 12% – mostly due to increases from the oil and gas sector in those provinces.

There are three things we need to apply from the COVID-19 crisis to the climate crisis: 1) Scientific facts matter and have to be taken seriously, 2) Delayed response costs lives and hurts the economy, and 3) Globally coordinated policy measures are required.

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the oil industry is acting decisively now to expand pipelines like the Keystone XL because it knows this is the one moment when protesters can’t make themselves heard.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg observes: “If one virus can wipe out the entire economy in a matter of weeks and shut down societies, then that is a proof that our societies are not very resilient. It also shows that once we are in an emergency, we can act and we can change our behaviour quickly.”

A Brazilian economist and former chief financial officer of the World Bank says that the immediate danger of coronavirus has a great deal in common with the threat of climate change: “One: it’s global. Two: it affects different people in different ways. Three: it shows the importance of government.”

University of Alberta political science Prof. Laurie Adkin is lead author of an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, published this week — and signed by 265 fellow academics, experts and advocates — that decries any move toward backstopping the fossil fuel industry. “We call for federal leadership to support an economic recovery plan that encompasses a green transition, not stop-gap measures, with income security for workers and a strong public sector,” the letter reads.

Prince Edward Island has pledged to make that province’s entire school bus fleet all-electric. Now a network of parents called “For Our Kids” has organized to convince other provincial governments to do the same. “Reducing our kids’ exposure to harmful diesel fumes is good for their lungs and the planet.”

OPINION – Some have tried to blame the cancellation of the Teck Frontier tarsands project on the federal government’s lack of support for the oil industry in countering massive public protests. It’s much more likely, however, that purely a business consideration — the price of oil — was the overriding factor in Teck’s decision.